If you work in social media in higher ed, you love the opportunity to live-tweet an exciting occasion like Move-In Day. But when social media is just one of your many duties — and you can’t get around on such a busy day — where do you turn?

Students, of course. In our case, we had a community of social-media-savvy incoming students moving in at SUNY Oswego on Friday — and it just so happened they were already live-tweeting. We just amplified their efforts, highlighted great content and enabled them — through things like promoting a #welcome2oswego hashtag — to build their own community and story.

While I did get out just long enough for a quick photo album of students moving in, helped by our awesome Red Carpet Crew, this Storify shows that the students themselves did most of the commentary on the day. Since Move-In Day is about them, that seems appropriate.

This was our favorite tweet of the day …

I would hate to be the guy/girl in charge of the @sunyoswego twitter lol.. Its gunna be a long day for them. #QuickShoutOut

That is incredible. Very exciting how much more incoming students are in tune with social media, seeing the documentation of the events of the day really gives one the feeling of being there and capturing their anticipation and anxiety at the same time. Thanks for sharing.

I love that you wrote this!! I am a “woman who wasn’t there” for the most part, but relying on student tweets, instagrams and facebook posts allowed us to put together a really comprehensive Orientation story, too!! http://www.hws.edu/news/orientation2012_storify.aspx

Dan: Agreed. I know the number of incoming students on Twitter has increased dramatically (the old days of the [bogus] “teens don’t tweet” trope are long gone), but the amount of storytelling going on was amazing. And worth sharing.

Melissa: That’s a great Storify! I can feel the school spirit and excitement!